Oct 28, 2014

PUSUQUÍ 4 LYFE, Y´ALL.

Chuta, this week has been absolutely incredible.

Bravo fambam last week. OBSESSED WITH THEM. They´re awesome. They´re about to be ¨rescued¨ aka, they're basically active members of the Church again!

We worked SO. DANG. HARD. Nos sacamos la mugre, como dicen aquí. (We do not get the grime, as they say here) I am sososososoo grateful for my bed. One day, we were RUNNING from appointment to appointment this week. I literally have callouses on my knees from praying so much, never thought I´d be able to say that.

I LOVE being a missionary. So this week me and my comp set some high goals and did all that was in our power to complete them, and left the rest to the Lord. Lemme tell yall, faith is quite an important ingredient in missionary work. Obedience and diligence are imperative as well.

EEEEE got to see Sister Edwards! LOVE THIS WOMAN! She brought me my package. She´s a doll. I miss El Eden. It was basically heaven in a ward.

Sunday was the day of miracles. We prayed to be able to see the fruits of our labors this past week on Sunday at choich. WE SURE DID. First off, we had 17 of our investigators at church, crazy. It was also the Ward Conference so we had a ton of our less actives and recent converts there too. I totally cried during the Primary presentation. They sang "Teach Me to Walk in the Light," and had the congregation sing verses 2 & 3. I´m such a baby, hahah. I love kids. I love this ward! PUSUQUÍ 4 LYFE, Y´ALL.

Fellow Texan, Elder Mott. Anyone know him? Probs not because he´s a baby and graduated from Prosper in 2014. AH, WHEN DID I GET SO OLD?!?!¿?¿

So as we were transitioning to the second hour, Cristina, the SocSoc (Relief Society) Pres came up to us with 2 OTAVALEÑOS (MY PEEPS!!!! ITS BEEN LIKE 6 MONTHS SINCE I´VE SEEN THE NATIVE ÑAÑAGUS AND TURIGUS) I was stoked to say the least. She introduced them to us, Rosa and her son Vinizio. The story is, Vinizio just got out of jail after 18 months because he was falsely accused of something. But while he was in there, he has lots of time to reflect and thought a lot about Christ, once he was finally freed, he told his momma that he was wanting more out of life and wanted to find el camino de Dios. So, Rosa calls up her sister in Otavalo and asks her what she should do for her son. She suggests that he should look into La Iglesia de JesuCristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) since she´s a member (AND she is quite possibly a family that we rescued in Peguche. I still have to investigate, but I´m 99% sure. How awesome, huh!?) So they looked up the building and just showed up at church on Sunday and wanna learn more. WHAT ARE THE ODDS!?

As we were walking out of the chapel, we saw a guy who looked like he was on the fence about coming in so we walked up to him and contacted him, turns out he´s the dad of some of our investigators (but he´s divorced and doens´t live with them) and coincidentially, he happened to be walking by the chapel at that very moment. We went and visited him last night since he lives in our sector. It was dope.

The second time we were trying to leave the chapel, two ladies were walking up. We introduced ourselves. One was a member who moved away like a year or so ago and accidentally stole a hymn book, so of ALL days, she stopped by that day, with her nonmember friend to return the hymn book. Her friend, María, was super interested and happened to live in our sector we have a cita (appointment) with her this next week. WHAAAAAAT.

THANK YOU MOTHER. I was overjoyed for the socks. Thank you so much. BIOTIN!!! AND TRUFFLESSSS FROM COSTCOOOOO I died. AND A NEW JOURNAL! Seriously, gracias. I teared up.

Our President was telling us about how on his mission, he and his companion would pray not to find investigators, but so that the investigators would find them. We were blessed to experience that this week with 4 different people. It´s crazy how the Lord blesses us for our diligence and obedience and faith. There were other little mini-miracles that day. We just broke our fast and a nice lady on the bus gave us each a mandarina. Tender mercies. It´s just so obvious that Our Father in Heaven is so aware of His children and He is continually reaching out to us and making His presence known in our lives.

adventure hike with some members, woop woop

We went out with some members hahhaa, oh so funny. I never noticed how much the mantle helps in like, every aspect of missionary work. There´s a shortcut we take to get to Cuba, a pretty ghetto ´hood in our sector where a ton of really humble people live, that´s actually kinda treacherous (but not too much). Anyways, Andrea was like, freakin´out and decided to sit down on the path because she was so scared of heights. But we made it! Eventually. When we were walking up to our investigator´s house, she asked why we were coming to this part of the sector (she´s pretty well-off and it was a big contrast to be in an area where people were very, very, humble.) and I simply responded, because everyone deserves to hear the gospel.

This is one of the shortcuts we take to CUBA! Hahah, the ´hood is called Cuba. I love this view. I love my comp. I LOVE ECUADORRRRR

Also, we learn in Alma that the people who have been humbled are MUCH more receptive to the message. I know that this is true. After accompanying us that afternoon, she was describing how cool it was to observe the lessons, and also take part in them. She said that as the missionaries talked, the Spirit was like, BOOM, totally there, and that we truly were speaking with power and authority. She could discern the Spirit. It was awesome because you can tell that the Spirit is the true teacher. This work is so awesome, you guys. I never wanna come home.

We were contacting and found familia L - Cabezas. They´re refugees from Colombia (I LOVE COLOMBIANS they are so open and fun). We first talked with Luz Carime (whose son we had contacted earlier that day but it took like 2 more days to realize that they were related hahha. But it goes to show that the Lord wanted the family to hear this message.) She was hesitant at first, but then she agreed to listen to the message of the Restoration. After we finished a summary of the lesson, we asked if she had any questions. ¨I have 2,¨ she said, ¨How can I get that book (the Book of Mormon) and when can you come back to teach me and my whole family?¨ I thought that line only existed in movies. It was so awesome because the Spirit was so strong. She and her whole fam came to church, including her sister and brother in law who she referred us to. DANG.

The L-Cabezas fambam at the ward activity on Sat. We found them this week and they are SO dang prepared. OBSESSED with them. They´re so incredible.

The work is going great y'all. Next week, I´ll have [been out] a year. I´m not even trunky heh, don´t worry. It´s so cool that this second half of my mission I get to continue learning and also put into practice all of the things I have learned so far. I love the fact that I get to testify of my Savior, Jesus Christ, all day every day. And that I get to share the happiness that this message brings. I know that FAMILIES are the most important thing here on earth. We are all sons and daughters of a KING. He loves us and wants more than anything that we return to His presence with our families. The Book of Mormon is a TRUE testament of Christ. I LOVE IT. It applies to every aspect of our lives and is truly the voice from the dust saved for our times. I know that the Atonement is REAL and that we can use it daily, and better ourselves through the living sacrifice of our Older Brother, Jesus Christ. My testimony of Joseph Smioth grew a lot this week as well. I don't know where we would be without the Restoration of Christ's true church. I'm grateful to be living in these latter days and that I can be a part of the preparation of the Second Coming of the Messiah. GOD LIVES. JESUS IS THE CHRIST. The Church is true, y'all.

I love each and every one of you so very much.

Have a marvelous week.

CON MUCHÍSIMO AMOR,Hermana Bowman

Some things never change........... jk, my desk usually isn´t this messy I promise. But it was like night and day, heheh.

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My name is Lauren Bowman and I am a sister missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in QUITO ECUADOR North mission! The creation & purpose of this blog is so I can keep all my fambam/bffs/coworkers/stalkers updated. Check back often to hear all about my adventures for the next 18 months! :)